Why do some people get cancer?

[cistanche_enjoyer]

It seems that for most tumors, it is just pure bad luck. Our cells are constantly dividing and copying DNA. Occasionally, by pure chance, mistakes happen in important genes that control cell growth. Most get fixed but a few don’t. Over years, if enough of the “wrong” genes are hit, a cell can turn cancerous.

Bad diet, phone/wifi, negative emotions, stress etc. have all been disproven as direct causes of cancer. 

But this is the mainstream science view, and we know it can be limited sometimes. Do you believe there is also a spiritual component to it? Something like paying karma from a past life? Or your higher self actually “wanting” this experience to grow through suffering?

[Someone here]

Not sure about karma and that kind of paranormal stuff . But clinically speaking it's because of either genetics or some illness in the body of some sorts . Women are very prone to breast cancer when they are 40+ . Most people who smoke in their youth are almost guaranteed to get lungs or throat cancer later on as they age if they continue smoking . And that's the nightmare I'm battling with because I've been smoking for close to 9 years now and I have very worrying symptoms but I'm afraid do a checkup because the chances are very high that I have cancer. But I'm doing all my best to stop smoking. That's like my life purpose right now lol.i literally don't care about anything else now in my life other than quitting smoking .nothing else can work in my life unless I ditch cigarettes away first .

 

[Leo Gura]

All the toxic chemicals we pollute the planet with.

Do you fathom how many billions of tons of toxic chemicals have been dumped into the oceans, rivers, lakes, earth, and air?

Edited 1 hour ago by Leo Gura

[Hojo]

Self hatred. Everything is a symbol from the darkness.

Edited 1 hour ago by Hojo

[cistanche_enjoyer]

8 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

All the toxic chemicals we pollute the planet with.

 

They did some studies and turns out that this accounts only for a minor part of cancers. For example 10–20% of cancers worldwide are due to "environmental" factors, and this includes includes smoking cigarettes.

It seems there’s a whole bunch of cancers such as brain tumor that cannot be connected to anything but bad luck.

Or do you have some sources that contradict this?

[Someone here]

Cancer is simply some group of cells in your body going out of control and multiplying out of control and out of the supposed rate .that's what it is .

Anything can trigger that : genetics ..pollution in the environment or what we put into our Body (food..Water..air..cigarettes etc).

[Natasha Tori Maru]

21 minutes ago, cistanche_enjoyer said:

They did some studies and turns out that this accounts only for a minor part of cancers. For example 10–20% of cancers worldwide are due to "environmental" factors, and this includes includes smoking cigarettes.

It seems there’s a whole bunch of cancers such as brain tumor that cannot be connected to anything but bad luck.

Or do you have some sources that contradict this?

Post the studies - interested.

Keen to check their methods and who funded them

[cistanche_enjoyer]

11 minutes ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

Post the studies - interested.

Keen to check their methods and who funded them

I used AI to summarize (hope it doesn’t bother you):

1. Goodman et al. (2015) – Workshop summary on low-dose mixtures, published in Carcinogenesis (Oxford University Press, involving NCI, NIEHS, and IARC experts)  
   Explicitly states: "Credible estimates from the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) suggest that the fraction of cancers attributable to toxic environmental exposures is between 7% and 19%."  
   - Link: https://academic.oup.com/carcin/article/36/Suppl_1/S254/416815 (full text via PMC: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4566031/)  
   This is one of the most direct citations tying WHO/IARC to this range.

2. President's Cancer Panel (2008–2009 Report: "Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now")  
   Critiques older estimates (e.g., Doll & Peto's ~2% for general pollution + 4% occupational) as "woefully out of date" and argues the true burden of environmentally induced cancer (broadly including chemicals, pollutants, occupational exposures, radiation, etc.) is grossly underestimated, implying a significantly higher fraction (while not pinning an exact number, it aligns with calls for recognizing 10–20%+ from broader environmental/occupational sources).  
   - Full report: https://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/pcp/annualReports/pcp08-09rpt/PCP_Report_08-09_508.pdf

3. WHO's "Preventing Disease Through Healthy Environments" reports (2006 & 2016 updates)  
   Use a very broad definition of "environment" (air/soil/water pollution, UV/radiation, occupational risks, built environment, etc.) and estimate ~23–31% of overall disease burden (not cancer-specific) is environmentally attributable. For cancer specifically, subsets like air pollution or occupational risks contribute portions that, when aggregated broadly, support higher-end estimates in reviews.  
   - 2016 report: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241565196

4. Supporting reviews aligning with ~10–19% for broader environmental/occupational factors  
   - Boffetta & Nyberg (2003, British Medical Bulletin): Estimates 5–15% for occupational + pollution exposures in developed countries.  
   - Various country-specific updates (e.g., UK 2010: ~5–8% occupational + pollution; Denmark/Alberta similar) scale globally to support the range when including radiation/occupational.

[Natasha Tori Maru]

2 minutes ago, cistanche_enjoyer said:

I used AI to summarize (hope it doesn’t bother you):

Nah all good - were these the studies you read?

[cistanche_enjoyer]

The first one yes, the others were added by AI and I didn’t double check FYI, but they seem reliable

[Yimpa]

I am a Cancer zodiac sign. And I take medicine designed for cancer patients.

Edited 35 minutes ago by Yimpa

[cetus]

14 minutes ago, Yimpa said:

I am a Cancer zodiac sign. And I take medicine designed for cancer patients.

Don't even joke. Chances are about 40% of the population will get cancer of some type.

[Yimpa]

Just now, cetus said:

Chances are about 40% of the population will get cancer of some type.

Which is why I’m taking the medicine already. I already deal with intense pain on my day to day basis, and it has been an absolute game changer for me. 

[cetus]

@Yimpa Would you care to share your story? If not totally understood. I'm recovering from stage 4 lung cancer. 2 years since first diagnosed and so far, a clean bill of health. Just 10 years ago and I would have been a goner. Photon therapy and a chemo cocktail saved the day.